Electric sign.



C. A. CHASE.

ELECTRIC VSIGN.

APPLlcATloN msu ocT.1,1`912.

Patented Nov. 7, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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Patented Nov. 7, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. A. CHASE ELEQTRIC SIGN. APPLICATION man oc.1, 1912.

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1 I l I I I I I I l l l I I I l I l l I l I l l l l l e l l V I l l l ll l l l l l l Will! C. A. CHASE.

ELECTRIC SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED ocT.1. 1912.

1,203,582. Patented N0v.'7,1916.

fag@ C. Ay CHASE.

ELECTRIC SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED pcT. 7, 1912.

1 @03,56% Patented Nov. 7, 1916,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

CHARLES A. CHASE, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC SIGN.

Specication of-Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 7, 1 916..I

application mea oetober 7, i912. serial No. 724,424.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES A. CHASE, acitizen ofthe United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and uselfulImprovements in Electric Signs, of`

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more specifically to electric signs employingremovable or interchangeable letters wh1ch may be readily changed orremovedfrom and a plied to a stationary backing, such signs being usedmore particularly by theaters and other places of amusement to advertiseor indicate changes of program or attractions as they occur. Thedetachable letters in such signs ordinarily 'consist of forms ormountings having the outlines of the variousletters and studded upontheir faces with 4a plurality of electric lamps or lamp sockets andprovided with means for attachment to the backing, and conductors orcontacts for `connection to the bus-bars or leads upon the sign board.4

It is the object of my invention to provide an improved sign board and aseries of removable and interchangeable letters such that the latter maybe quickly applied to l and removed from the former without unnecessarymanipulation and will remain securely in position when applied.

v A further object is to provide a construction which'will be relativelypermanent andimmune from destruction or deterioration from weatherv orother ordinary causes.

In carrying my Ainvention into effect in connection with a sign of theabove described character, I provide a backing board upon which theletters are mounted having one or more longitudinal slots, dependingupon the number of lines of lettering to be used, in connection withwhich slots are mounted rigid conductors of opposite polarity havingcontacts at suitable; intervals and preferably embedded in orVsurrounded by insulating material. The letters which are to be arrangedupon the board are provided withl rigid conductors across whichvthe lamps are connected and means Vextending into or through the. slotsfor holding them in position and connecting them up with the contactsof' the longitudinally-extending conductors or bus-bars.

In the accompanying drawings and in the detailedV description whichfollows I have disclosed with particularity several specific. formsinwhich my invention is embodied.

It is to be. understood, however, that my inventlon is not limited tothese specific forms whlch are disclosed for-'the purpose ofexemplii'ication only; and in the following clalms have endeavored topoint out where- 1n my invention is distinguished from similarstructures of the prior art. It is to be4 understood, however, that. itis my intention to claim the invention in its greatest breadth as wellas in its various details and not to relinquish or abandon any partthereof.

Inthe accompanying drawings forming part of this speciication, Figures 1to 7 .inclusive illustrate one form of my invention including the backboard of a sign and the detachable letters to be applied thereto; Fig.

1 being a perspective of a sign, Fig. 2 a cross-.section of the same onthe line 2 2 of F1g. 1, Figs. 3 and 4 front and rear views respectivelyof one of the letters used in connection with the sign board, Figs. 3aand 3b details of a fragment of a letter and a'lamp socket, showing themeans of attachment of the latter to the former, Fig. 5 a front view ofone of the strips of insulating material having embodied therein thelongltudinallyeiltending bus-bars or conductors, Fig. 6 a view showingthe arrangementof the conductors or bus-bars with the insulatingmaterial indicated in dotted lines and Fig. 7 a

cross-section "of the same; Figs. 8 to 12 inclusive represent a modifiedform Vof insulatlng strip and conductors, Figs. 8 and 9 ybeing front andrear views respectively of the form of strip of Figs. 8 to '12, Figs. 13

and 14 representing respectively front and rear views vof the same, Fig.15 a plan of lthe electrical conductors and connections, the outline ofthe letter being shown in dotted lines, Fig. 16 a vertical transversesection through a signboard having the form of insulating strip andconductors shown in Figs. 8 to 11 with the form of lamp shown in Figs.13 to 18 applied thereto, Fig. 17 aA vertical section on the plane ofthe line 17-17 of Fig. 15, the body of the letter, p

however. being shown in full lines and Fig. 18 asection atright angles'to the plane of Fig. 17 on the line 18-18 of said figure; Figs. 19, 2Oand 21 represent a further modification, Fig. 19 showing a form ofletter in plan, Fig. 20 an enlarged section on the line- 20-20 of Fig.19 and Fig. 21 a perspective of the lamp used in connection with thisform of letter: Figs. 22 to 25 represent a still further modification ofthe letter, Fig. 22 being a plan, Fig. 23 a Vertical section on anenlarged scale on the line 23-23 of Fig. 2 2, Fig. 24 a section ofralamp socket used in connection with this form of letter upon the line24-24 of Fig. 25, and Fig. 25 a section upon the line 25-25 of Fig. 24at right angles to the plane thereof; and Fig. 26 is a verticaltransverse section of yet another form of sign-board with a detachable'letter in position for attachment thereto.

Each part isdesignated by the same reference character wherever itoccurs vin the several views.

Referring now to Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive it is seen that the sign thereshown is composed of a pair of boards or backings 19, 19 arranged b'ackto back and connected together by the ties 20, 20. As' shown in Fig. 1the sign is connected to a suitable support by braces 22, 22 connectedto the top and bottom thereof respectively, but any other form ofsupport might be 'employed or if desired and especially where the signis arranged against a wall it may consist of a single board or backingmember with the letters attached thereto. In the formv of the devicewhich we are now considering each board is slit or slottedlongitudinally but at an angle to the face thereof, there being a slitfor every row of letters which it is desired to use, though in the signshowing the drawings of this application but a single slit 23 and asingle row of letters are eml ployed. Upon one face of each slit, hereshown as the upper face, though the lower face would answer'equallywell, is arranged a strip 24 of insulating material which is firmlyscrewed to the sign board and carries embedded therein the contact gridsor conductors 25, 26. The insulating strip is chamfered upon itsopposite edges as at 27, 28 to correspond with the planes of the frontand back of Athe board when the strip is in position.

The grids, bus-bars or conductors 2'5, 26 are made of any suitableconducting material and may be cast, stamped, Stenciled or otherwiseformed of sufficient cross section to be strong and rigid and compriseeach a longitudinal member extending lengthwise of the insulating strip4and having at suitable intervals contact members 29 which extend firstlaterally in the plane of the longitudinal members as at 30, thenoutward as at 31 and vterminate in,l cross heads 32 which form thecontacts for the letters. As will be seen by reference to' Figs. 6 and7, the longitudinal members of the bus-bars or conductors 25, 26 arearranged parallel to each other within the insulating strip with theircontact members extending toward each other so that the contact heads 32-lie in a common plane intermediate the longitudinal conductors andproject slightly beyond the material of the non-conducting strip. Thebus-bar 25 is substantially continuous throughout, being made insections which overlap. at their adjacent ends and are secured togetherby screws as at 33; but the grids or bus-bars 26 are formed in short,unconnected lengths, the extent of which is limited bythe number oflamps which can with vsafetyr be included in a single branch circuit,and each such section is connected by an independent wire or conductor34 with a fuse in a suitable fuse boXl The arrangement of the fuse boxand` the provision of suitable cut-outs is within the skill of theordinary electrician and need not be described here as it forms no partof my invention.

The contacts upon the conductors 25, 26 when the latter are assembled inthe position which they occupy in use, .as before stated, alternate. ina plane intermediate the two conductors with their outer or contactfaces extending slightly beyond the surface of the surroundinginsulation', and these contacts are evenly spaced from each otherlongitudinally of the conductorsand at such a distance that the twocontact springs upon each letter, which will be described later, areadapted when the letter is arranged upon theboard to rest upon twoadjacent contacts which being of opposite"polarity by reason of theirconnections to the busbars or grids, transmit current to the conductorsand lamps of the letter. lln order to insure against short circuitingand to form a means for aiding in the ready adjustment of the letters,the insulating strip in this form of device is provided with transverseribs 35 intermediate the adjacent contacts.

As' shown in Figs. 3 and 4 each letter to be used with the abovedescribed back board is composed of a form of backing 36 in which areembedded 'or inclosed grids or conductors 37, 38 having cast orotherwise formed integral therewith contact members 39,' 40. As in thecase of the contact members uponthe longitudinal strips above described,the present contact members are 0H- set laterally toward the center ofthe letter formed and bent outwardly or at right angles to the surfaceof the letter. V They extend, however, materially beyond said surslotted vfrom the side to receive the conductor pins 41, 42 extendingfrom o posite sides of a lamp socket 43 (see Fig. 3n The pin 42 ispreferably screw threaded as shown in Fig. 3b and provided with a nutwhereby when the lamp socket is in position between the contacts it maybe firmly secured in place. The grids or conductors 37,

. 38 are each proveded with a terminal 44, 45 (see Fig. 4) whichterminals are so spaced from eachother upon the back of the letter as toengage contacts of opposite polarity upon the bus-bars 25, 26 beforedescribed. By reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the springcontacts 44, 45 are set. at an incline to the back of the lettercorresponding to the inclinationof the slot in the back thereof andbeing of substantial dimensions and of suitable metal, not only act ascon- 20 tact members but serve also to support the letter. -In order toadjust the letters to the sign it is only necessary to locate them inthe proper position with the ends of their spring contacts in the slotand' press them into their final position when 'the spring contacts 44,45, will wipe against the contacts projecting from the insulating stripsfinally coming to rest with the contacts restv ing in notches providedfor the purpose in he free ends of the spring, all as shown in n themodification shown in Figs.- 8 to 18 inclusive, the principal featuresdisclosed in connectionwith the first described form of invention areretained though some ofthe details are different. In this form of theinvention the backboard 46 is formed with a series of longitudinal slots47 corresponding in number as before with the-desired num- .49 ber oflines of lettering. VThe form of the slot, however, is different, itbeing rectangular in cross section and rabbeted upon its opposite frontedges as shown' at 48, 49. l The slot in this lform of the device iscompletely filled by the insulating strip 50 which is shaped to conformt'o the walls of the slot and secured therein as by the screw 51 (see-Fig. 16.) Within the body of the insulatt (.see Fig. 10). `The conductoror bus-board 65.. 52 is suitably connected vto one terminal of grids, asin the previously described modifiing strip are embedded the conductors'or bus-boards 52, 53I which extend longitudia source of energy and themembers of the sectional conductors 53 are provided with terminals 57 towhich may be secured conductors for connecting them with the fuses in afuse box as heretofore described. As heretofore stated, theconductors-are surrounded bythe body of the insulating strip which isperforated opposite each cylindrical socket, the opening being taperedto assist in guiding the contact pms of the removable letters into saidsockets, see particularly Fig. 11.

The illustrative letter for use with the last described form of backboard, shown in Figs. 13 to 17 inclusive, comprisesv abody'go which maybe formed of insulating material within which are embedded orinclosedvthe grids 58, 59 which form the conductors foi' supplyingcurrent to the lamps. These cation, are-cast, Stamped, stenciled orotherwise formed of substantially rigid material and extend insubstantially parallel lines through the letter. The grid 58 is formedwith a series of T-shaped offsets 60,- the ends of the arms of whicheachextend between the branches of yokes 61 formed upon offsets fiom theother conductor 59. The ends 60 of the offsets from lthe conductor 58are perforated and tapped to receive screws which secure small contactsprings 62 for engagin the central contact of an electric lamp o theordinary type, and the'branches of the yokes 61 are likewise perforatedand tapped to receive screws.63 by which the screw shell or socket 64,which receives the threaded shank or base Aof an electric lamp of theusual type, is attached. In order to form the connections with thesockets upon the stationary insulator strips the two conductors areseverally provided with split pins 65, 66 which are arranged upon ahorizontal line-atthe back of each 'letter andy spaced apart at adistancev necessary to enable them to simultaneously, register withAsockets of opposite polaritj'f;4 In the particular letterillustrated(see Eig. 15) the pins are arranged upon the T-shaped projections fromthe respective conductors at the top of the letter. Obviously all thatis required in order to adjust the letter is to bring the split pinl inregister withV the sockets inthe required location and press the letteruntil it brings up against the board.

The insulator strips which surround and carry the conductors, as well asthe body of the letter, may be of a great variety of materials, such, e.g., as condensite or hemite, and formed in a variety of ways. I havefound vthat any insulating cement may be employed for the vpurpose orpreferably, in

' case the. insulating strip .or letter is to be cast.' glass'may beemployed for the purpose.

bus-bars are of rigid material and of a cross section such that they notonly serve as conductors, but materially strengthen the insulating bodyof the strip or even furnish substantially all the rigidity thereof,and, in case of cracking of the latter hold the sections thereof inposition so that any cracks which may be formed are immaterial.

Signs constructed according to my invention are practicallyindestructible by reason of the body and rigidity of the grids orconductors, the protection a'orded the grids and contacting ,connectionsand by reason of the reinforcement of the letters by the contactinggrids.

Obviously, if desired, the grids or conductors of Fig. 15 could beemployed in skeleton form without the surrounding mass or form ofinsulating material, a-nd in Figs. 19 to 21 I have shown a form ofletter in which the grids are .stamped out of sheets of metal, the gridsbeing spaced apart throughout to prevent short circuiting, and togetherforming the outline of the desired letter. Thus, one of the grids orconductors is indicated at 67 and the other at 68, the grid 67 beingformed with tongues 62 corresponding to the tongues of the letter shownin Figs. 13 to 18 and the other grid or conductor 68 embodyingsubstantially an equivalent of the yokes 61 and provided with tappedopenings 69, 70 for the attachment of the screw sockets 71. The tongues62 of course receive the springs 62 for engaging the central contact ofa lamp ofthe Edison type. The4 grids 67, 68- are preferably mounted uponan insulated backing 72 and coated with an insulating covering` orenamel 73 and an insulating annulus or sleeve 74 surrounds the screwsocket 71. In this form of letterthe grids 67', 68 are likewise pr-o`vided with attachlng and conducting pins 65, 66 for insertion in theconducting sockets as heretofore described, though other attaching andconnecting means might obviously ,be used.

In Figs. 22 and 23 is shown a form of letter resembling'that describedimmediately above in that the-conductors or grids are s'tenciled fromsheet metal, together form the outlines of the letter and are mountedupon an insulating backing 72. The means of attachment of the lamp,however, are entirely different. .At each point where a lamp is to belocated the letter is pierced by a circular opening formed partly in onegrid or conducting member and partly in the other. Concentric with thisopening and immediately beneath the edge of the conductor members is ashallow circular depression 75 in the backing. The shank of the lamp tobe used in connection with this modification'is provided with flat ears76, 76 located diametrically opposite each other and of a width topermit their introductlon through fthe space 77 between the adjacentedges of the conductor grids. `When a lamp has been inserted in thecircular openings and the ears 76, 76 brought into contact with theinsulating backing in the depression above mentioned, the lamp is givena partial rotation so that the ears are held against removal and thelamp prevented from falling out. desired, the ears may be provided withperforations 78. 78 and similar perforations 79, 79 formed through theletter at the proper points and the lamp after it is placed in positionturned to bring the perforations in registry and pins inserted toprevent the turning of the lamp. Ordinarily, however, the frictionbetween the backing plate and the lugs will be sufficient to prevent theaccidental displacement of the lamp. Instead of modifying the shank ofthe lamp it may be of the ordinary character and a socket 80 employed inconnection therewith having the lugs 76, 762 for securing the same inplace. In this event theslug 76 will be provided with a centralftongue81 and be insulated from the screw socketSO and the latter will beelectrically connected to the lug 7 6 (see Figs. 2l and 25). .l

In Fig. 26 is seen yet another modification partaking -in part of thecharacter of that seen in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive and in part of themodifi-cation shown in Figs. 8 to 11 inclusive. In this modification theinsulating strip 50 and conductors embedded therein are precisely asshown in Figs. 8 to 11` but the strip is mounted at a distance behindthe slot in the back board which is at an angle asin the modificationshown in Figs. 1`to .7 inclusive. The letter 82 for use inconnelctionwith this modification is provided with tubular Shanks 83 which eX- tendthrough the inclined slot in the back board and receive' the ends ofiexible conductors 84 connected to'l the conductors of the letter` andwhich at theirv other ends are provided with plugs 85 for insertion inthe proper sockets in thev insulating strip. In, applying the letter tothe board in this modification the plug is first inserted in the socket,the flexible conductor or cord being long enough to permit thisy to bedone through the inclined slot with the letter conveniently re- 4movedand. then the letter is hung in position with the inclined Shanks in theslot. In the construction shown the strip 50 is spaced from the back ofthe back'board by suitable filling strips 86, 87.

I claim:

1. In a sign board, a strip of insulating material, a pair of parallellongitudinal conductors spaced apart and embedded therein, a series oflateral conductors extending from each longitudinal conductor toward theother, those connected to one longitudinal conductor alternating withthoseconnected tothe other longitudinal conductor, and an conductors andlof the strip.

exposed contact connected to each lateral conductor, said contacts beingarranged in a single line intermediate the longitudinal conductors.

2. In a sign board, a strip of insulating material, a pair of parallellongitudinal conductors spaced apart and embedded therein, a seriesoflateral conductors extending from each longitudinal conductor towardthe other, those connected to one longitudinal conductor alternatingwith those connected to the other longitudinal conductor, and an exposedcontact connected to each lateral conductor, said contacts beingarranged in a single line intermediate the longitudinal projectingbeyond the face 3. In a sign board, a strip of insulating material, apair of parallel longitudinal conductors spaced apart and embeddedtherein,

`a series of lateral conductors extending from each longitudinalconductor toward the other, those connected to one longitudinalconductor alternating lWith those connected to the other longitudinalconductor, an exposedcontact connected to each lateral conductor, saidcontacts being arranged in a single line intermediate the longitudinalconductors and projecting beyond the face of the strip, and transverseribs of insulating material intermediate the contacts.

4. An electric sign board of the class described having a longitudinalslot inclined l from the front toward the rear of the sign board, astrip of insulating material arranged in said slot and connected to oneof the Walls thereof, a pair of longitudinal conductors embedded in saidstrip, each of said conductors having lateral conductors extendingtoward the other, the lateral conductors on one longitudinal conductorbeing arranged intermediate the lateral conductors on the other, acontact arranged on each lateral conductor and projecting beyond theface of the strip, and one or more letters having inclined tangs upontheir rear faces, said inclined tangs having conductors adapted to makecontact With the contacts Within the inclined slot'.

CHARLES A. CHASE.

Witnesses:

LoUIs B. ERWIN, ROBERT DOBBERMAN.

